Psychology clinic helps rural Australians

by Rachel Broadley

UniSA’s Psychology Clinic is helping people in rural South Australia with
the first video therapy service of its kind.

The video therapy program, run in conjunction with Country Health SA, offers
free, unlimited psychology services to clients in Port Augusta and
surrounding communities via video-link at the same time as teaching trainee
psychology clinicians.

Dr Susan Simpson, Clinic Director (pictured right), developed the idea after
providing a similar service to residents of the Scottish islands of Shetland
and Orkney while working as part of the mental health team in Aberdeen,
Scotland.

She says the thrice-weekly service, which launched earlier this year, could
help to address a shortage of psychology services in rural and remote areas.

“This service grew out of an awareness that there is a distinct shortage of
clinical psychologists working in remote and rural parts of Australia, and
consequently there is an inequitable psychology service provided to people
living in remote areas,” Dr Simpson says.

“Three days each week we offer sessions to people living in Port Augusta who
are referred to us by the community mental health team, provided by our
Master in Clinical Psychology students.

“The students are enrolled in a two-year postgraduate course that enables
them to become clinical psychologists once they’ve finished.

“The system itself is very straightforward and easy to use; it’s like using
a telephone, and both clients and clinicians find that after about five
minutes using the system it’s just like talking face-to-face.

“People are sometimes apprehensive to start with but once you start focusing
on the difficulties a person is having, you tend to forget about the
technology, and it’s great for our students to get experience offering this
sort of service.

“We train the psychologists to become aware of other ways of expressing
empathy – to use their voice more and to use more non-verbal gestures, for
example. You can’t hand a patient a box of tissues, but you can be more
expressive in the way you support them with what you say.”

The students help clients with a variety of issues, including anxiety,
depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, self-esteem issues,
schizophrenia and other psychotic illnesses, sleep disorders and eating
disorders.

Each trainee is closely supervised by a qualified clinical psychologist, who
observes the sessions under strict confidentiality.

Dr Simpson says the feedback has been encouraging.

“Research so far shows that clients are quite comfortable and consider the
therapeutic relationship to be equal to the one they would have face-to-face
– they aren’t inhibited by the technology at all,” she says.

“We’re conducting research over the year to see if a whole year of video
therapy, with plenty of encouragement, support and supervision, will improve
students’ confidence and competence using the technology to enable them to
go on afterwards and offer that service to remote areas.

“We hope to continue with the project and expand to Roxby Downs, Quorn and
other more remote areas where historically it has been difficult to access
psychology services.

“The benefits for students are that they are learning an innovative new way
of offering psychological therapies that they won’t get anywhere else.

“Clients get a service they wouldn’t otherwise get, and when we forge ahead
to other remote areas that will be even more the case.

“Hopefully people living in remote areas will benefit in the longer-term
because psychologists will feel more willing, able and confident to provide
therapies using technology which they hadn’t been in the past.”

Shirley Rochford, team leader of the Community Mental Health Team in Port
Augusta, says the service is invaluable to clients.

“This service is very important to us here in Port Augusta; I have already
seen great benefits within our clients who are in the program,” she says.

“Their anxieties have reduced, their risks are minimal on updated
assessments, we provide a debrief session for the clients afterwards if they
wish to partake, and the staff feel supported in their endeavours to provide
a holistic approach to their clients’ well-being and health outcomes.

“I feel that this service is now embedded into our working practices and
programs. I foresee that UniSA video therapy will become a large part of our
service delivery not only to ourselves but to the Port Augusta community and
outlying areas of North and Far Western regions.”

UniSA’s Psychology Clinic also offers a psychological and counselling
service available to the general public by appointment at Magill campus. For
more information, click
here.